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My manger scene, card and canvas...I love the verse on the canvas, what a sweet and comforting reminder...
Michael Farris wrote:
So true, when I was a little girl I remember picking up on that very thought and I still ponder it. Beautiful.
I can remember feeling the Holy Spirit so strongly as a little girl, I remember bringing a beautiful new baby doll boxed set to the altar at church as the The Little Drummer Boy played as all of us children walked slowly down the aisle. The gifts would be laid on the altar for poor children and I always wondered what little girl received the beautiful baby doll I had chosen... After church, Mother and I went to my Dad's marina Gulf gas station on the bay for boats, it had a bit of a feel like the lighthouse room where George Bailey was talking to the angel in the movie, It's a Wonderful Life. It was a dark day, very enchanting, the sky was a dark grey over the bay there and you could feel true Christmas in your bones ...and in your heart...It was a glorious feeling. I had very long dark hair down to my waist and was wearing a double knit kelly green jumper with straps that crossed in the back that my mother had made for me, she had pinned a little Christmas tree pin on the front strap, white tights and black patent shoes, a white headband would be worn with a white turtleneck under the green jumper...Very neat like my mom, she always liked things simple and neat. : )
I remember in our small living room in our little home my mother's manger scene...I loved the feel of it...I would gaze upon it and think of that night and the birth of Jesus.
Back then, The Little Drummer Boy would be shown on the major television stations and Greer Garson narrated it. A beautiful program.
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Now I'm a mom and a Mi-Mi. I still love to retain a wonderful feel, and I like to keep our home in an atmosphere where Christ would be comfortable being here.
On the lighter but no less peaceful side....Around here I did something very different for Christmas this year. I simplified my Christmas tree. 
Yes. ...I simplified my Christmas tree.
Oh dear..I still can't believe I did this thing. *big smile* I normally do a 1940s tree complete with original vintage ornaments and icicles. My 40s tree would rival George and Mary Bailey's family tree from the movie, It's a Wonderful Life. Yes, I had the real deal on the tree, real 40s ornaments from my family, real icicles and just 1940. Just real heartfelt stuff on that tree...Oh the love on that tree.
But something happened the past two years. I was putting it up, and it was feeling like a chore, our youngest, Grace works quite a bit and without all our daughters here it wasn't the same togetherness feel, Grace and I were both just doing a little here and there like a jig saw puzzle. Then. Then, then would come the day to take it down. The year before last I took it down by myself when our precious fur angel, Charlie passed away tragically, and that was not a good day let me tell you. Last year once again, I took it down by myself. I started thinking...Ya know Self? Let's do this thing differently. Let's simplify.
And simplify I. Did.
Our "Amelia Tree". I went down to a 4 foot tree that I could put together myself.
White lights and my cardinal on the coffee table that I grew up with.
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This coffee table was there the day I was brought home from the hospital as a newborn baby, it saw me grow up. Now it is especially loved in our home here.
Our daughter, Grace could not believe that all I was going to put on the tree was lights. No icicles or anything. Grace was horrified, 
yes, she was. I told her she could put all of that on her tree...She bought herself a 4 ft. real tree. Jem gleefully thought my simple tree was total greatness. Ha.
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So this is our lovely "Grace Tree", it does have the icicles and a little trim she picked up at the grocery. Do you see Liesl sleeping near by?
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I have put little trees on most table tops and we are in a Christmas forest of sorts...Grace gifted me with the angel last Mother's Day, so sweet I think.
I even have a little nest... I love the natural look of things...
A little doggy peeks out of the side of the little forest tree on the way to the guest bathroom.
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I even have a perfect church in this forest setting... I had a good friend, she and I would have a private joke about the perfect church and usually it would be something like this ceramic church or a card etc. We met at church when we were young moms and have seen our share in churches we have visited. We know that Church is in our heart truly so, just as Jesus is in our heart.
This young lady is bringing her dogs to church too, right there by the church.
The view from here, the bookcase? My dad and Italian uncle made it together during the 1950s. This bookcase was also in the living room along with that coffee table, those are sliding doors on the front. My dad's family was a German waterfront family and my mom's family was an Italian waterfront family....So there ya go. Zuzu and Tommy gave Jem the neat clock on the wall.
The entry area.
This is a huge framed print by my dining room table, Joycie found this for me at the resale shop...Oh what a find!
Grace did this arrangement on our dining room table, I love it. Jem made the table out of old, old fence planks found here on the old ranch and the bottom is giant tree trunk pieces from an old, old oak tree that had fallen.
These are in my display cabinet, these little cardboard houses are from the 1930s. My dad had these in his home, there is a place for a light in the back of them. Those are photos of my dad when he was a little boy. (I miss you Daddy)
We made these cute little guys one day. I put him in my display cabinet too.
Shall we freshen up in the guest bathroom?
If you look closely...
I'm handing you no blarney...My guest bathroom was the first room to be totally decorated for Christmas, even before Thanksgiving so the pilgrims would have an amusing time washing up. You have here an original movie poster for one of my favorite Frank Capra movies and below is modern Pitbull art..Loved our pitbull, Buddy. Buddy was a sweetheart, dumped out here, a gentle giant. He was so afraid, he even winced at the cats...Someone had mistreated the precious gentle giant. We gained his trust and he would nap by my side..Such a precious fur angel.
Edit: I must add these two photos in honor of our precious Buddy who we all miss and love.
Adjacent wall: A new addition to my photo collection in the famous guest bathroom: Sergeant Stubby. A true war hero, those are real medals. The book, 'Sergeant Stubby: How a Stray Dog and His Best Friend Helped Win WWI and Won the Heart of the Nation', a must-read, one of my favorite books ever. A children's movie was made of Sergeant Stubby's life. The stuffed body of Sergeant Stubby is in the Smithsonian Museum. My guest bathroom is an interesting place, many things to read and see.
More to see in there...
Daddy and his mother, my real grandma, Amelia who I was named after. She passed away when my daddy was around ten ...so sad, such a tragic story. Everyone that knew her including my Italian grandma said she was a very sweet and gentle soul. My mom and dad went to school together when children so the two mothers knew each other.
Told ya there's a lot to see...
A little snowman fella hiding in the corner...
A devotional too. Lessons from Lucy About Loving God.
I'll have to post the rest of my memorabilia in my guest bathroom another time.
Going to the kitchen looking out the window.
My coffee buddy lamp by my coffee pot...
Isn't he sweet to greet me in the early morning?
My window as I wash dishes.
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Joycie gave this beautiful greenhouse to me for an early Christmas present, isn't it unique?
See inside, the little girl with her father holding the string of lights?
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Isn't this little guy a hoot? He cuts such a handsome silhouette in the vintage red truck! This scene is sitting on my breakfast table...He makes me smile.
This sweet little deer is upon our woodburning stove.
This year I made myself a cozy corner in our room.
It looks like even though I simplified the living room Christmas tree, I decorated in other ways, just one thing at a time, placing things here and there. Believe it or not I have cut out a few things, anything fiddly I cut out this year.
One thing I would like to do since I miss some of my vintage ornaments is place very special ones on a platter atop a table...We shall see. If I have time. I do miss my vintage ornament friends... But it sure was nice putting my sweet little tree up with lights and just enjoying the enchanting lights around me on smaller trees. It has that eclectic coffee shop feel.
In closing, I thought I would share some little gift box-baskets Jem and I put together for people who work for Jem.
I thought these turned out very nice. Jem had purchased a Walmart gift card in the silver pillow boxes but wanted an extra special way to present the cards. We went to Dollar Tree and found the little boxes, and the candy there too. I think they turned out so pretty with the red shreds over red tissue paper, and taping the lid on the backs.
For supper tonight I made as a side some baked turnips from my garden with My Grandma Amelia's Bechamel sauce and it was delicious.
Watching: The Bishop's Wife (1947) What a wonderful movie... A tried and true classic, always an enjoyable movie especially at Christmas time or anytime.
And to all a good night...
Peanut says Goodnight.
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